Course One eNews | March 2022

Dear CEE Community and Friends,

This month’s newsletter shares new research from Prof. Caitlin Mueller’s group that supports the circular economy of materials by “upcycling” discarded tree forks and other waste materials. MIT announces $100 million gift to form Morningside Academy for Design, a new academy that will deepen the integration of design across the Institute with John Ochsendorf as founding director. Buehler’s lab uncovers new research that translates words into matter and flames into music and materials at the APS March Meeting, and scientists from the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSHub) have found that cool pavements are not just a summertime climate change solution.

Senior Carene Umubyeyi aims to use her knowledge to expand and educate on sustainable structural design and building methods in her home country of Rwanda and beyond. Lastly, we share photos from Random Act of Kindness Week and upcoming departmental events that I encourage you to attend.

Sincerely,

Ali Jadbabaie

JR East Professor

Department Head, MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering

Core Faculty, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society

MIT Morningside Academy for Design

MIT created a new hub for cross-disciplinary education, research, and innovation and announced that. John Ochsendorf, the Class of 1942 Professor, and professor of architecture and of civil and environmental engineering, will be founding director.

Learn more

Buehler's lab turns flames into music and words into matter

At the 2022 APS (American Physical Society) March Meeting, Prof. Buehler uncovered new results from a technological method to render flames into sound, and the design and manufacturing of nature-inspired materials, in addition to new research that translates words into materials.

Q&A: How cool pavements can mitigate climate change

MIT research scientist explores how cool pavements can offer climate change solutions in more than just the summer.

In Memoriam: Alumnus Brian Watt

Brian J. Watt, ‘70 PhD, was a successful structural engineer and business executive who is remembered for his diverse and rich career, joyful spirit, and generosity for enabling and strengthening educational opportunities at MIT. The Brian J. Watt (1970) Fund endowment was created in 2015 to allow future MIT civil engineering students to pursue their dreams. His life and legacy will continue to live on and touch future generations of civil engineers through the life he served and inspired.

Using nature's structures in wooden buildings

Prof. Caitlin Mueller and her Digital Structures research group have been developing a strategy for “upcycling” discarded tree forks by using them in construction as structural components aimed at furthering sustainability gains from building materials and reducing emissions.

Photo credit: Julia Schwartzman, Cordero Lab

Dispersal strategies drive marine microbial diversity

Trade-offs between the benefit of colonizing new particles and the risk of being wiped out by predators allow diverse populations of marine microbes to exist together, shows a new study from postdoc Ali Ebrahimi and Prof. Otto Cordero.

Designing the built environment through a service lens

Senior Carene Umubyeyi hopes to use the knowledge she has gained during her time at MIT to expand and educate on sustainable structural design and building methods in her home country of Rwanda and elsewhere in Africa.

#MITRAK Week for CEE Community

For MIT’s Random Act of Kindness (RAK) Week, the department hosted events throughout the week, from making your own terrarium, meditation and knitting circle, to waffles with wuv (and a pug). We captured some of the RAK moments on camera.

View photos